


Deserving

by orphan_account



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 10:51:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6607957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sara talks to Oliver in the future. She only has one question.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deserving

**Author's Note:**

> I haven’t watched recent episodes of Arrow and I haven’t watched any of Legends of Tomorrow. Technically, I’m the least qualified person to write this. But I’m also the only person who’ll want to write this, so.
> 
> Sara says some cruel things to Oliver in this fic, and I want everyone to first of all take into account that she’s saying it in grief. It is not the reality of the situation.
> 
> Also, unedited and written 10000% to scratch an itch. Incredibly self indulgent.

“I need to know what happened to her, Oliver.”

Sara’s voice is soft and vulnerable, and it’s such a contrast to the Sara that Oliver knows now, with her stern mouth and cold voice. Who would never trust him with her weaknesses.

Seeing this younger Sara who considers him her friend is the closest thing to happy he’s been in a long time. Nothing is fixed, but the presence of someone who cares about him is enough to create warmth where there hadn’t been before.

He thinks that’s why he decides to be honest.

“You hate me, you know.”

He’s not looking at her as he says it, instead staring at the smog that could otherwise be called a sky. They’re on a rooftop, because like Barry had once said, rooftops are where all the superheroes gossip. “You hate me for what happened.”

Sara says nothing in response. She doesn’t look shocked or regretful, and she doesn’t comfort him and tell him it wasn’t his fault. Sara has only ever chosen Oliver over Laurel once, and it’s not a mistake she will ever make again. Sara is only here to know. She’s not here to offer forgiveness or absolution. It’s not hers to give, and even if it was, this young Sara wouldn’t offer it so easily. She’s not like Laurel in that regard.

This Sara cares about Oliver, and that makes her different from the Sara he knows now. But this Sara is still the same Sara who would destroy a city for her sister. She hasn’t been given cause to yet, but she will if need be.

“In 2030, Laurel gave me back the engagement ring I’d used to propose to her,” he starts. This time, the surprise registers on Sara’s face. He grins a little, wryly. It’s a shadow of the lighhearted Ollie of before. Sara wouldn’t recognise it. In her time, he hadn’t shed the weight of the world yet.

“I proposed using the pin of a grenade after nearly getting killed by it. When she gave it back to me she told me that she should have known we’d just blow each other up eventually. Then she left for Gotham and I stayed here.”

“Five years later Slade Wilson slices off my arm and is about to gut me, but Laurel… Laurel steps in. She wasn’t even supposed to be in Star, and she’s almost too late. So she did the only thing she could do and took the blow for me. You - older you - arrived just in time to see it.”

Oliver sees Sara freeze at the mention of Laurel dying, and Oliver wonders if a small part of her hadn’t believed that it had actually happened. He pretends he doesn’t see the flicker of despair that bleeds through her stony mask, and continues.

“You kill him permanently and destroy most of the city coming after the rest of his army. You nearly kill me too, but instead… you tell me that you’d respect Laurel’s choice and let me live.”

“Slade’s son takes over his crusade after that, and you leave Star City. I don’t know where you go, though you come back from time to time. We aren’t on good terms, but you … tolerate me when you need to.”

Oliver falls silent. There’s a phantom ache where his arm used to be. He’s used to it. It hurts when it’s too cold, when it’s too hot. When he sees Slade Wilson’s son. When he thinks about Laurel.

It feels like the wound never healed, really.

The younger Sara Lance stays silent for a long time, and Oliver sits beside her and waits. He wonders idly if this Sara will kill him, since his Sara cannot. He doesn’t think so, only because Sara didn’t kill in all the years up until Laurel’s death. This Sara still has Laurel.

“It was always Oliver and Laurel,” she finally says.

The words makes Oliver’s gut clench, because he’s heard that said so many times before, and the fact that it’s no longer that way hurts.

“God, it doesn’t surprise me that you’re the reason she gets killed.” Sara isn’t looking at him. They haven’t looked at each other this whole time, and her eyes look suspiciously glassy.

“I wanted her to move on from you, you know. But apparently neither of you move on from each other. Apparently it was Oliver and Laurel until the end. Oliver and Laurel… and that’s why it was the end.”

“I was a shit sister too, don’t get me wrong. But you can’t escape family. You weren’t family. She was supposed to escape you. But you … you and Thea and Moira and even Robert. She’d already decided you were family. Whatever we all did to her she’d always come running anyway. God…”

Sara’s teeth were clenched, gritted so hard Oliver could hear her teeth creaking. She takes a deep breath, exhales.

“It’s not your fault.”

Oliver feels something lodge itself in his throat. Sara still isn’t looking at him, but her words feel like a weight pressing down on him. It doesn’t sound like forgiveness.

“It’s not your fault you didn’t deserve her. That you didn’t deserve her sacrifice. I’m sure Laurel knew that. But she chose to do it anyway.”

Sara stands.

“Honour that sacrifice and continue fighting for Star City and continue fighting for happiness. It’s what she’d have wanted you to do.”

“You don’t deserve her and you never will, but try to live as long as you can, so that one day, maybe you will.”

She leaves.


End file.
